Samsung has announced that it plans to spend KRW 100 billion (around $83.2 million) to boost the cooperation between academia and the industry so that better display and semiconductor technologies could be developed. The South Korean tech giant also said that it plans to expand its academia-industry cooperation program in the field of basic sciences such as mathematics and physics.
The company had opened the Industrial-Academy Cooperation Center in July 2018, and it is now celebrating its second anniversary. The cooperation center has supported research projects of more than 700 Ph.D. scholars, students, and university professors since its inception. Samsung's program allows local universities to use the company's advanced chip equipment for research projects.
Samsung Electronics said that its latest investment would help researchers at local universities whose projects have been delayed or suspended for the past few months due to the COVID-19 situation. In previous years, the company had invested KRW 40 billion per year to help researchers and students. Last year, Samsung had received requests from 10 universities to use the facilities for 100 research tests, and the company provided them the infrastructure for free.
The South Korean firm is also helping researchers with the registration of patents for ongoing projects. Samsung has devoted 10 percent of its latest investment in the fields of basic sciences such as chemistry, mathematics, and physics, which can be used in the development of new materials and data analysis.
Mr. Lee Han-Kwan, Director of Industrial-Academia Cooperation Center, Samsung Electronics, said, “We will expand our Industry-Academia Cooperation Program with Korean universities to help them in developing excellent and practical R&D. We expect to contribute to building a healthy ecosystem where top talent can expand into the company and expand its capabilities.“
